Jibrel: February Update
Over the past few months Jibrel revised its overall direction. This post highlights the progress made in February, as well as the overall strategy Jibrel will implement as its core focus going forward.
Overall Project Status
Jibrel’s efforts in February were largely centered around the Jwallet Web. In addition to the release, the iOS and Android teams also pushed out new releases that mainly addresses bugs and glitches found in the earlier releases.
On the business side, Jibrel pitched to numerous enterprise clients over February, but it is clear that a lot needs to be done in terms of Enterprise user awareness. There are still a lot of misconceptions around the added-value of blockchain technology and what it is suitable for. We expect Enterprise blockchain adoption to ramp-up significantly over the next few years, as users become more educated on how best to implement the technology within existing financial technology stacks. Jibrel continues to play an active role in educating enterprise users on blockchain implementations.
Achievements, Challenges & Limitations
Jibrel had a busy development period, primarily on the Jwallet Web release as well as updates and fixes on the iOS and Android versions.
On the business side, Jibrel launched its Ambassador program with three college campuses. This marketing initiative will be first piloted with select universities, before expanding to multiple universities and geographies.
Overall, the team still faces challenges around community management and user acquisition. This is touched on in greater detail in the Monthly deep-dive below.
Human Resources
Jibrel has reached its manpower plan targets and will reduce overall sourcin going forward. Only hiring for specialized skill-gaps or as a replacement for departing staff members.
This month we added Product Designer Timofey Pavluk to our Design team.
Monthly Deep-dive
Jibrel Strategy: Products, Users, Tokens (PUT)
Jibrel’s focus for 2019 can be summarized as Products, Users, Tokens, in that order. With high quality products, Jibrel will be able to attract a significant number of users. With users in place, Jibrel will be able to incentivize them to use Jibrel Network Token (JNT), to access certain utility features, better overall exchange deals and limited discounts across Jibrel’s product offering.
We believe this is the best strategy for crypto-startups and token-related projects to employ. This strategy is similar to what most traditional startups employ — focusing on user growth first, monetization later.
The section below outlines our approach and implementation of this strategy.
Products
Jibrel’s focus in 2018 was heavily focused on building out its core products; the Jwallet, now available on Android, iOS as well as Web; Jcash, Jibrel’s stable coins, and Jsearch, the network’s Ethereum block-explorer.
Jibrel Wallet
A user-friendly secure digital asset solution
Key Features
- Decentralized private key management (encrypted in browser memory)
- Total balance displayed in fiat currencies (USD, GBP, EUR, KRW)
- Multiple address from single mnemonic support
- Favorites / ability to save addresses
Planned Features
- Convert between Crypto-currencies within the wallet
- Ability to cash-out to Fiat via Jcash or bank transfer
- Ability to cash-in via bank transfer, debit and credit cards
- Multiple blockchain support (BTC, XRP, etc.)
Jibrel Cash
Jibrel’s proprietary stable coin system
Key Features
- Four fiat-backed coins available (USD, GBP, EUR, KRW)
- Fully compliant KYC / AML processes
Planned Features
- Integrate into Jwallet for seamless conversions
- Add additional currency support
- Add additional non-currency assets (e.g. commodities)
Jibrel Search
An Advanced Ethereum block explorer
Key Features
- Price Discovery and Advanced Finance Tools
- Full Ethereum Explorer including Smart Contracts
Next Steps
- Finalize front-end development
- Launch Jibrel Search
Users
Growing the Jibrel community
Most crypto-followers tend to overestimate the size of the crypto-community, and as a result, underestimate the amount of work required for full mainstream adoption. When one also considers that the bulk of users transact on exchanges and don’t use wallets, the low numbers speak for themselves.
Daily Active Users by Exchange
In addition, it’s estimated that ~65% of users transact on exchanges, and leave their coins on exchanges, as opposed to ~35% who use wallets to store their cryptocurrencies. This is further broken down into users who prefer hard-wallets (e.g. Ledger who have sold over 1MN units of the Nano S) vs. soft wallets (e.g. Jwallet).
Furthermore, while unique Ethereum address creation is still on the rise, a significant portion of these are contract addresses. In addition, users often use multiple addresses. This is especially true for users who use a single mnemonic but many addresses, a feature available in numerous wallets including the Jwallet.
Unique Ethereum Address Growth (Sep ’15 to Jan’19)
The numbers for daily active Ethereum addresses are even more somber with only ~1MN Median active Ethereum addresses, including exchange addresses as well as contract addresses.
Median Daily Active Ethereum Address Growth (Log Scale)
With these numbers, it becomes clear that numerous crypto-startups are needlessly spending on marketing to acquire market share in a market that is extremely thin.
Furthermore, given crypto-startups are well capitalized, this has inflated the cost of marketing significantly, with numerous outlets charging tens of thousands of dollars for basic exposure.
Jibrel’s philosophy of “build first, market later” has been effective, as the company and token are still visible to the market, while cash management has been conservative and strict.
That being said, later is right around the corner. Jibrel will need to significantly improve its marketing efforts to position itself well in advance of the next adoption run, which is likely to be driven by B2B users starting to experiment with public blockchains.
Jibrel Network Token (JNT)
Incentivizing Users with Jibrel Network Token
With products in place, and users attracted, the network can then focus on increasing the utility of its token.
Network effects are very much a real thing in crypto-currencies. Given most functionalities are peer-to-peer, the more users, the more seamless the user experience. This is no different for Jibrel Network Token (JNT). For that reason Jibrel needs to put in place token utilities that can be maximized immediately, today, as well as ensure the infrastructure is in place for the use-cases of tomorrow.
Short-term Token Utility
Immediate use-cases
Token to Jcash Exchange Transactions (Live): Currently, users require JNT to facilitate Jcash conversions. In the future, Jibrel will be able to incentivize users to leverage JNT for more favorable rates in Jcash conversions. Users will be able to access better exchange rates by using JNT rather than ETH.
Token to Token Exchange Transactions: Similar to the point above, Users will be incentivized to use JNT as a trading pair, to access better rates.
Promo Campaigns: Finally, Users will be incentivized to use JNT further, through promo campaigns launched through Jibrel’s products.
Long-term Token Utility
Realizing the Network’s vision
Jibrel was conceptualized to tokenize traditional financial assets and place them on the Ethereum blockchain. The benefits of this use-case are substantial. For traditional finance these include: instant clearing, simplified trading, for Islamic finance, this includes simplified Murabaha transactions as well as simplified Sukuk issuance.
Outside fiat currencies, Jibrel will focus on a single asset classes in the short-term, commodities.
Tokenized Commodities: This involves purchasing commodities, undertaking the legal work to ensure ownership is governed on-chain, and facilitating easy integration with existing systems.
Tokenized Warehouse Receipts: Similar to tokenized commodities, tokenization implies putting the warehouse receipt ownership registrar on the Ethereum blockchain.
Conclusion
Key Strategy Takeaways
- Jibrel will focus on Products, Users and Tokens (PUT) in that order
- We believe this is the strategy all crypto-startups should employ
- By building high-quality products that Users love, Jibrel will be able to grow its user-base over 2019 and 2020
- With users attracted to the Jibrel platform, the network will be able to incentivize users to adopt Jibrel Network Token (JNT)
Jibrel provides traditional financial assets such as currencies, commodities, debt instruments and securities, as standard ERC-20 tokens, on the Ethereum blockchain. Jibrel AG is a public limited company domiciled in Zug, Switzerland.
